DURBAN - An ex-pupil has been arrested and a shotgun recovered in Osindisweni, KwaZulu-Natal following a robbery at a Verulam school.
According to Prem Balram, spokesperson for Reaction Unit South Africa (Rusa), two suspects entered the female staff room and held up eight educators at Lockhat High School on Wednesday.
He said one of the robbers was armed with a shotgun. Balram said as the robbers fled, one of them called out to his accomplice by name and educators realised that he was an ex-pupil of the school.
“The Reaction Unit South Africa Operations Centre received multiple calls from residents in the area requesting assistance to apprehend the duo. Reaction officers were dispatched to the scene while their helicopter lifted off to provide aerial support,” said Balram.
Balram added that information was received from the SAPS that one of the robbers was hiding at a relative’s house in Osindisweni.
He said Rusa members located the 22-year-old suspect hiding under his bed and arrested him.
Balram said officers from the Umhlali SAPS K9 Unit responded to the scene and together with Rusa officers they recovered the shotgun from where the suspect had hidden it in dense vegetation.
The second suspect remains at large.
Provincial police spokesperson, Lieutenant-Colonel Nqobile Gwala confirmed the incident.
“A 45-year-old victim alleged that she was performing her duties as a teacher when she was accosted by two armed males,” said Gwala.
She added that at gunpoint the suspects robbed her of her cellphone, handbag and fled the scene on foot.
“A 22-year-old suspect was later arrested by Ndwedwe police for robbery and will appear in the Ndwedwe Magistrate’s Court soon,” concluded Gwala.